19 October 2018 - Canada Legalizes Cannabis

Publié
par
Marion Coste
le 19/10/2018

Weed Is Now Legal in Canada

Amelia McDonell-Parry (Rolling Stone, 15/10/2018)

On Wednesday, October 17th, Canada will become the second country in the world where marijuana is legal on a national level, as Bill C-45, approved by Parliament in June, goes into effect. Adults will be able to possess up to 30 grams of pot and grow as many as four plants of any size per household; otherwise, additional regulations maybe be enacted at the province level.

Americans who are planning to travel to the country in the near future should know that it won’t be a complete cannabis free-for-all – fewer than 200 retailers country-wide will be open for business on Day One. On the West Coast, British Columbia will have just one government-run marijuana store, in the city of Kamloops, to start. On the east coast, Montreal will have quite a few more options, with 12 marijuana shops set to open on Wednesday, and another three to follow by the end of the month. By the end of the year, there will be 20 cannabis stores up and running across Quebec, all of which will be monopolized by the government-run Société Québécoise du Cannabis (SQDC), an offshoot of the government’s liquor store monopoly. While Quebec has handed control over to the local government, other provinces are planning to spread the wealth and issuing licenses to private distributors.

What the first day of legal cannabis looked like across Canada

(CBC, 18/10/2018)

From coast to coast to coast, Canadians were able to purchase legal cannabis for the first time today. Trying to buy your first bud, however, looked completely different depending on where you were. CBC reporters across the country show us what it was like for Canadians lining up for legal weed for the first time.

Canada's legalization of marijuana could hurt farmers in poorer countries

Hilary Clarke (CNN, 17/10/2018)

For decades poor farmers in countries like Jamaica and Morocco have risked the wrath of governments and gangsters to grow cannabis as a cash crop.

But as Canada becomes the first country in the Group of Seven leading industrial nations to fully legalize marijuana, those countries where the crop has traditionally been grown risk losing out on new legal markets worth billions of dollars.

When people think of cannabis production in developing countries, they tend to picture drug cartels and bandits.

Justin Trudeau now owns Canada’s marijuana mess

Because Prime Minister Justin Trudeau can be such a polarizing figure in Canada, one of his inadvertent talents is clarifying the positions of his critics.

Before Trudeau came along, the question of how the Canadian electoral system was structured was not overly divisive. Today, thanks to his botched efforts to make the present system “fairer,” the status quo has become more jealously guarded by the right. His unprovoked decision to tightly associate his administration with Canada’s ultraliberal abortion regime has likewise pushed the Conservative Party into closer alliance with the antiabortion movement.

Trudeau’s decision to legalize marijuana, which officially took effect this week, seems destined to follow a similar script. So ill-conceived is the move, it can only improve the wisdom of anything conservatives conceive in contrast.